


Brand New Day

by Nishizaki



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Groundhog Day fusion, Friendship, Gen, STID, eeeeerh, in a blender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 11:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7616929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nishizaki/pseuds/Nishizaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a loose translation of my own text "И будет новый день..." which was originally written in Russian (http://archiveofourown.org/works/4521447) and posted under a different account that I've lost access to. So.</p><p>Kind of mix up out of Groundhog Day and Star Trek Into Darkness, because I could. A very loose mix.</p><p>Spock isn't running to whale over his Captain's sudden death and Jim Kirk is dying alone. And again. And again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brand New Day

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [И будет новый день](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4521447) by [Iron_Nishizaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iron_Nishizaki/pseuds/Iron_Nishizaki). 



> The text is using a binary way of representing hexidemical (hex 6) numeral system. The repeated daytimes are the same through the repeating timeline.

**0000**  
He is dying.  
  
He is dying and it’s alright. First, the radiation tears apart his very soul (what else can hurt so badly?) and then he wakes up in his quarters.  
  
It’s like he is being yanked out of a nightmare. It feels worse than jumping from a cliff, Tarsus or Narada all put together, because after the third awakening there is this tiny voice in his mind, whispering that he is stuck in this dream-state forever.  


  


**Morning**  
Jim Kirk is fighting with his First Officer.  
  
They can jump at it anytime and anyplace, really, like it’s a favourite game for both of them. You can’t say a word to the Vulcan without getting back twenty (and then some). Jim usually explodes on the fifth.  
  
It’s not like they hate each other’s guts. Come on. Vulcans “don’t have feelings” and all that crap, right?  
  
Jim sees Spock as a barely tolerable younger sibling, who is not the youngest (they have Pavel, for God’s sake), but is the biggest pain in a certain body-part. Jim has a real brother in some distant part of the universe, and Spock is, in fact, older than him, but it certainly doesn’t stop Jim from entertaining the thought. Spock is such a middle kid. Yeah, well.  
  
"If Spock were here and I were there, what would he do?"  
"He’d let you die."  
  
McCoy’s gaze is harsh and unforgiving, and Jim avoids it while trying very hard not to think too much.  
  
That day Jim and Spock fight for the death of it, get nearly transferred to different ships, and when Jim is dying he can’t even imagine what is going to be Spock’s move.  
  
He is dying alone, behind a terribly thick glass-wall. All he can see from his position is Scotty, flat on his face, laying on the cold floor (Jim did punch him before going in). Seems like the engineer is bleeding, he probably hit something with all the turbulence. 

  


**0010 Sunset**  
The thing that Jim changes the second time around: he punches Scotty and puts him in a chair in front of one of the consoles. He goes to the core again, but comes back and hits the safety-belt for his unconscious friend.  
  
Jim cannot be sure if all of it is for real or if he is just daydreaming big times. He doesn’t have enough space in his head to think about it, the world around is going to shit too fast.  
  
Everything ends with pain and darkness.

  


**0011 Morning**  
All of it is for real and Jim’s hands are shaking.  
  
Pike is dying on him for the third time and he can do absolutely nothing about it.

  


**0100 Morning**  
"Captain, you have violated the Prime Directive," accuses him Spock.  
  
Jim sends him a sheepish (maybe a bit tired) grin.  
  
Spock (how can he call himself emotionless is beyond Kirk) looks scandalized.  
  
"There is no logic in letting you die, Commander," mutters Jim while trying to punch in the right code.  
  
They are standing in a doorway to the Medical. Jim knows that Bones is hiding somewhere there trying to avoid Spock’s nagging.  
  
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," Spock just doesn’t back down. "According to Starfleet regulations, section C…"  
  
He doesn’t get the chance to finish.  
  
The door to the Medical is finally closing by Jim’s command.  
  
He nearly lets out a sigh in exasperation. He is pretty sure he can actually hear Spock’s slightly louder “Captain” all the way through the thick walls around.  
  
Bones peaks out of his office:  
"What did you do with him?"  
  
Jim just shrugs it off. The closer he is to Bones the lesser his raging headache is.  
  
Even if it means staying in the Medical.  
  
Leonard doesn’t even get close enough when he realizes what Jim’s done and starts to rant:  
"Jim, open it immediately! This is a goddamn Medical bay, not your personal quarters!"  
  
Jim gives it up the second he notices the way Bones is eyeing the shelf with his hyppos.  
  
"Alright, alright, no need for violence," mumbles Jim. "By the way, I was meaning to ask, have you ever had a déjà vu? Like "four days in a row" one?"  
  
Leonard looks like he is seriously considering what is he going to hyppo Jim with: a sedative or a tranquillizer.  
  
"Each time you ask me a stupid question like that?"  
  
Bones is grumpy and tired after the mission.  
  
Whose brilliant idea was it to beam down so many high-ranked officers anyway?  
  
Wait, scratch that.  
  
Of course they all volunteered. Well, that’s Jim’s team.  
  
Jim opens the door and rolls his eyes. Spock, straight as a stick, is standing right where Jim has left him. Apparently, he is already used to Kirk’s tantrums.  
  
Well, that’s his Captain.  


Pike dies, and dies, and dies.  
  
Closing his eyes for the fourth time makes Jim feel just as dead inside.

  


**0110 Morning-night-life**  
The sixth time around Jim locks Pike in the headquarters and sits near the door listening to Pike going off about his “stupid goddamn so stupid jokes”. Kirk doesn’t make a sound but of course, Pike knows who is on the other side.  
  
The thing is, without Pike’s death Jim doesn’t really have a murderous intent towards Khan. The memory of him fades away as the new world is rolling out.  
  
So the war sets off. Jim has a couple ideas on the “how”, but he hears about it from the news, not the frontline.  
  
He is demoted to Commander. Naturally, Bones is metaphorically slamming him all over the place, but even he can’t disagree: haven’t Jim pull that stunt and he or Pike could have got seriously injured in the attack. He doesn’t know the half of it, really.  
  
So the life goes on. Jim forgets about his weird dreams, about Khan and his not-death. The Federation wages a bloody war. Millions of young volunteers are recruited all over the quadrant ready to fight something. Anything.  
  
There are new ships faster and more ready for the war than any one of them. Even the Enterprise gets her share of upgrades. Admiral Marcus gets what he wanted.  
  
The war goes on for four long years before the Enterprise burns on the frontline, successfully ending it. And it’s over, and the crew is relatively safe.  
  
But Captain Pike is dead.  
  
He was taken around a year ago and tortured to death.  
  
Jim is sitting alone on the bridge.  
  
Bones tried to stay with him, of course, he did, he basically attached himself to Jim. Their brilliant crew was fast promoted and sent to different ships, only Bones refused to serve with anyone but Jim. Spock was now commanding the repaired Farragut. Uhura did try to get on the ship with him but was promoted to the First Officer position on Excalibur. Sulu got his own ship, smaller and faster, fit to manoeuvre itself through the battlefield right under the enemy’s nose. Chekov left with him: their duo was now notoriously known through the Federation as the best one out there. Scotty was permanently in motion, visiting all kind of bases keeping them up with the latest upgrades.  
  
Bones did stay with him though.  
  
To let him die in this horrible war seemed far worse than to repeat George Kirk’s fate.  
  
So Jim is alone on the bridge. He is sending the Enterprise head straight into the enemy’s ship. Bones doesn’t even scold him.  
  
Bones is silent, tucked into the safety of a lifeshuttle drifting slowly away from the Enterprise.  
  
The link between them is open and everything is screaming for the last words, the last confessions.  
  
They went through this war together, but Jim has never been patient enough to wait until the end. And Bones is never going to forgive him that one thing.  
  
They are both silent.

  


**0111 Morning**  
Jim wakes up in the calm world free of war. He has never been so close to just cry like a kid. Right until that exact moment.

  


**1000 Morning-Sunset**  
Everything comes back to him nearly driving him crazy.  
  
So Jim does think of everything: he sabotages Pike’s aircar so he wouldn’t show up on the meeting. He insists on Spock staying as his First. He puts a knife to Khan’s throat whispering:  
"If you want to see your crew alive, you surrender and come with us. We have them all, seventy-two torpedoes."  
  
Jim’s head hurts so bad that it actually feels like he’s got blasting hot iron pushed into his forehead.  
  
His body isn’t adjusted to the most stunts he was pulling during the war that didn’t happen (as of yet), but he cares not. The war drained the Federation, ruined his little family.  
  
When Khan asks him if there is anything he would not manage to do for his family, Jim nearly outright laughs at his face. He managed to die for his family; taking seventy-two lives for them wouldn’t even get a second thought from him.  
  
Jim looks at his crew, sees their young faces and to die for them again – that doesn’t get a second thought either. For _the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few_ , it doesn’t even take him that long to make up his mind.  
  
When Jim is dying this time, the memory of the war in his mind is fuzzy and distant.

  


**1011 Morning**  
Jim is fighting with Spock.  
  
He is going through this scenario for the eleventh time and, God, is he tired.  
  
He is punching in the override code for the Medical and isn’t exactly looking at Spock when the words escape his mouth:  
"It wouldn’t be logical to let one of the senior officers to die, Spock," he sounds broken and a bit miserable, he knows that and can’t find it in himself to care.  
  
Bones is peaking out from his office and Jim is clutching at his side like a kid.  
  
"Bones, I am so very tired, I don’t think I can do it anymore, it’s impossible…"  
  
Jim Kirk cannot give up.  
  
Bones is just holding him like that, even though he doesn’t have the slightest idea what’s gotten into his Captain.

  


**1110 Sunset**  
In the original version of this godforsaken day, everything went to hell as soon as Marcus’s treason came to light. Oh, the Admiral also happened to bring his new deadly toy straight into Khan’s hands.  
  
This time around Jim listens to Spock. Carol Marcus doesn’t get abroad.  
  
His head hurts more and more, but in the next moment Bones is flopping on the seat between him and Spock and – the pain fades.  
  
After getting on Marcus’s bridge Jim stunts him and points his phaser at Khan.  
\- Don’t even think about it.  
  
Khan is throwing himself at Kirk when the transporter works just in the right moment (first times for everything). The Enterprise is going into warp, but Khan isn’t far behind. Everything is going to hell again: his ship is faster and stronger.  
  
Jim is dying, but it seems that everybody else is safe. Scotty is sitting on the other side of the glass-wall when Bones is pushing him away. He is screaming, swearing and is basically trying to push through the glass to Jim.  
  
Bones, Bones, Bones.  
  
Vivid and stubborn and so alive.  
  
Jim is dying and it still hurts like crazy and Jim is scared: what if this time – is the last one?  
  
Bones is there, right behind the glass, and he has this look on his face like Jim just broke his heart.  
  
Jim doesn’t feel so alone anymore.

  


**1111 Morning**  
"Sometimes, Spock, the needs of the individual outweigh the needs of the many," says Jim meeting Commander’s stern gaze.  
  
He is making a step forward, for the first time not avoiding the uncomfortable conversation but facing it.  
  
He knows that Spock has already submitted his stupid report, he has already submitted his own and already lied. It matters not.  
  
"Spock, you have to understand why I did it."  
  
The Vulcan is looking at him as indifferent as he can master.  
  
"I saved you because you are my friend. It isn’t an act of blind rebellion against the regulations, it is but a choice. Between the needs of the many and the needs of the few, we choose the ones we can later live with. Otherwise, all of it," Jim makes a vague gesture in the air, "is for nothing."

  


**1111 Midday**  
He is sabotaging Pike’s aircar once again.

It takes Spock the whole of forever to come up with any answer at all (look, who’s too lost for words). Jim smiles at him.  
  
"The truth is, I’m gonna miss you."  
  
Spock looks scandalized just like all those scenarios before this one. Jim rolls his eyes but doesn’t really put his heart in it. He is walking to his sit and Spock cannot for the life of him come up with an answer.  
  
Of course, only Jim can see that.  
  
The explosion is deafening. Jim finds the right cable and yanks it out of the wall. He is firing at Khan and Spock is barely there in time to get him out of the return fire’ way.  
  
Jim’s grin is subtle because inside he is already starting to burn with rage. He has to find Khan, so many people are dead because Jim wasn’t fast enough, didn’t remember enough to save them.

  


**1111 Afternoon**  
He refuses to let Carol Marcus aboard, nodding to Spock’s words. They didn’t request more science officers. Even though Spock’s hurt pride makes Jim chuckle.  
  
"What, even a beauty like that can’t have her way aboard?" teases Bones, flopping down between him and Spock.  
  
Spock ignores the good doctor - he is looking at Jim like he sees him for the first time. 

  


**1111 Evening**  
Carol Marcus still gets aboard, God knows by what means, and Jim is in awe with her stubbornness.

  


**1111 Sunset**  
"Is there anything you would not do for your family?" suavely questions him Khan.  
  
Jim looks first at Bones, then at Spock. They look back at him. How far would they go?  
  
The long lost memory feels like an old nightmare subdued by his consciousness. Seriously then, how far would Jim push the system to at least avoid the war?  
  
He is looking at Bones thinking about his “yesterday’s” face, how he was whaling, crying and screaming at Jim, at Scotty and the whole world. How he was standing on his knees trying to get closer to Jim through the thick glass, tears in his eyes.  
  
"Captain," Spock pauses here for a moment. "Jim. I strongly object."  
"To what? I haven’t said anything yet!"  
  
Jim’s mind is spinning with the possible options, ways to escape, when he suddenly remembers Spock during the war that didn’t happen (yet).  
  
"You are planning to beam on Admiral Marcus’s ship aligning yourself with an intergalactic criminal."  
  
Spock during the war was closed off, distant and cold, slowly burning from the inside.  
  
Spock, Spock, Spock.  
  
Jim thinks about Bones when he ordered to get him out of the war-Enterprise and force the doctor into the lifeshuttle. Bones hasn’t left his side for a second, following Jim all the way through the war.  
  
"I have a combat training level required for a mission like that," then says Spock, but Jim interrupts him.  
  
"It’s not that. I need you here on the Enterprise."  
  
Spock is still following him but doesn’t say another word. He is just as stubborn as Jim is.  
  
Jim suppresses an urge to smile.  
  
Is he ready though – to break his family’s heart?

  


**1111 Dusk**  
Spock is behind the glass and he is screaming. His eyes are so full of pain and grief and rue, that one could have drowned in them. Uhura behind him is hiding her face at the side of Scotty, who is standing straight like a soldier.  
  
Bones comes running ordering _someone, for god’s sake, anyone_ to open the door.  
  
Chekov is all but chanting in the microphone for the whole ship:  
"Keptin Kirk, please, report to the bridge; Keptin Kirk…"  
  
There are so many noises around and Jim is more scared than ever before. This time is different. This time he thought about every little detail and chose the scenario that would get him the most points. Still a no-win.  
  
_There is no such thing as a no-win scenario._  
  
Jim is dying.  
  
_1111 Night_

  


_...Dawn_  
Jim wakes up and he is feeling good.  
  
The cellar above him seems unfamiliar but is white and clean. The sun is shining annoyingly bright through the curtains.  
  
"Jim!"  
  
Bones is all over him, checking this and that, good old mother-hen he is. Jim feels good and funny: there is a cocktail of painkillers in his system.  
  
"Bones," he is grinning.  
  
Jim would have hugged him, but his body feels unattached to his head.  
  
"Jim."  
  
Spock is standing at the end of the bed like a statue to himself, and Jim can see the tension leaving his shoulder line. Kirk can swear on all that’s sacred, the sly Vulcan is smiling at him – just a tiny bit.  
  
All seems well.  
  
The brand new day is here.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't kill me for my language skills. Feel free however, to pock me with a grammar stick.  
> And yay if you got to the bottom of it, let me know what do you think :)


End file.
